The present invention relates to a lightweight and economical retractor for a seat belt of a vehicle, and more particularly to a retractor having a structure in which the number of parts necessary for incorporating a webbing sensing element and a vehicle sensing element is reduced.
In a conventional seat belt assembly for use in a motor vehicle, a seat belt for binding the user""s body is drawn out of a retractor which is fixedly located typically next to one side of a seat in the vehicle, and fastened to a buckle mounted on the other side of the seat. The retractor prevents the seat belt from being drawn out of the retractor when the user""s upper body is unexpectedly propelled forward, as when the vehicle is involved in a collision.
In conventional seat belt retractors having double sensing elements, namely a vehicle sensing element and a webbing sensing element, separate covers are used to protect and/or house these elements, requiring more parts and increasing the size of the overall seat belt assembly. A large number of parts delay the operation time of the retractor to lock the seat belt into a desired length in the event of collision, as the required action is transmitted through the numerous parts of separately housed sensing elements.
The present invention relates to an effective and economical seat belt retractor for vehicles which reduces the number of parts and size of the retractor by incorporating a vehicle sensing element and an webbing sensing element in a mechanism cover and a spring cover.